The present invention comprehends bathroom or lavatory accessory items, and more particularly pertains to a toilet seat lifting device for raising and lowering toilet seats.
Safety, convenience, accessibility, and hygiene are primary factors to consider in designing, building, and using bathrooms, lavatories, and public restrooms. For example, with the passage of the Americans With Disabilities Act in the early 1990's, public restrooms have been redesigned for easy access and use by physically impaired and disabled individuals. Enlarged stalls, easy to reach handrails, and full length mirrors for wheelchair bound individuals are just a few of the improvements added to public restrooms for enhancing their convenience and access as required by the aforesaid Act.
In addition, whether the bathroom is private or public, hygiene is a paramount concern. Warm air blowers for drying the hands, anti-bacterial soap dispensers, and motion-activated faucets are common features in public restrooms. The toilet, however, remains the primary source of pathogenic--and sometimes lethal--bacteria. The toilet seat, lid, rim, tank, and bowl surfaces are rife with bacteria and, given the haste and inattentiveness that accompanies restroom visits--especially public restrooms--it is inevitable that harmful bacteria will be deposited, by direct or indirect means, on the individual because of the difficulty of using the toilet while at the same time avoiding direct physical contact therewith. A major problem arises in raising and lowering the toilet lid and seat while minimizing the amount and duration of physical contact needed to accomplish the task which, in turn, minimizes the chances of pathogenic bacteria transmission.
A number of devices have been invented to accomplish this task quickly, efficiently, and with a minimum of physical contact with the bacteria laden surfaces. U.S. Pat. No. 1,590,298 (Landis), U.S. Pat. No. 3,516,095 (Clifton et al.), and U.S. Pat. No. 5,327,589 (Rice) disclose toilet seat lifting devices that use pneumatic cylinder assemblies to control the raising and lowering of the toilet seat and lid. In addition, U.S. Pat. No. 621,790 (Burger et al.), U.S. Pat. No. 1,511,533 (Staszak), U.S. Pat. No. 2,632,896 (Morikawa), U.S. Pat. No. 2,954,565 (Miller), U.S. Pat. No. 4,150,446 (Crocker), and U.S. Pat. No. 5,075,906 (Robbins) disclose devices for raising and lower toilet seats that incorporate rods, bars, or links that pivot to raise and lower the toilet seat when actuated by some type of foot pedal.
There remains a need, however, for a toilet seat lifting device that can both raise the toilet seat and/or lid in a smooth, continuous manner and also lower the toilet seat and/or lid in a smooth, controlled manner, and which requires very little force or effort to effectuate the raising and lowering of the toilet seat and lid.